Labor's 2nd choice may face Walker

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has become Big Labor’s public enemy No. 1, but they‘ll likely have to settle for their No. 2 choice to replace him.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is poised to pick up the Democratic nomination Tuesday to face off against Walker in the highly anticipated June 5 recall election. Labor groups’ favorite candidate, former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk, has trailed far behind Barrett in the polls even after major national unions threw their support behind Falk.

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Labor leaders say they’re ready to rally immediately behind Barrett — who has drawn the ire of labor organizers in the past — should he secure the nomination. But the defeat of the unions’ preferred candidate would deal a blow to labor groups hoping to prove that they’ve regained lost political power, and their efforts to warn politicians against messing with collective bargaining rights.

“Nationally, people will now have the ability to re-interpret potentially what happened about the labor movement divided, and [why] their candidate didn’t win,” said Andy Stern, the former longtime leader of the Service Employees International Union.”It would have been a lot easier to just have a real referendum on Scott Walker, not necessarily a debate about who is best suited to do that.”

Big labor groups backing Falk in the Tuesday primary include the Wisconsin AFL-CIO; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; SEIU, and the United Food and Commercial Workers. And Falk has received more than $4 million in support from labor unions, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

While labor groups say they tried to stay positive during the race, some went on offense during what became at times a contentious primary. AFSCME Wisconsin toned down its criticisms of Barrett last month after sending members to an online video implying that Barrett supported Walker’s stance on collective bargaining.

Barrett has picked up a handful of union endorsements, including the Wisconsin Professional Police Union, the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Iron Workers District Council of North Central States.

Still, Falk was the clear favorite of national labor groups, and a loss on Tuesday would force the groups behind her to regroup in the four weeks before the general election.